The Bourne Legacy Insights

When I saw they were making another Bourne movie, without Matt Damon, I was very skeptical. I wasn't expecting much from the Bourne Legacy, but I actually enjoyed it despite some minor problems. If you are familiar with my blog, you know that every post contains spoilers so proceed at your own risk.

I thought Jeremy Renner was great in the lead role and I felt he was even more believable as a government assassin than Matt Damon was as Jason Bourne.

I'm not a big Rachel Weisz fan, but she had a good performance. The scene where she was being interrogated in her home was very intense and memorable.

If you would have told me the main character beats up a wolf and makes him swallow a tracking device and then the wolf is blown up by a laser tracking missile seconds later, I would not have given the movie much credibility, but I was somehow able to overlook this.

Jeremy Renner is not Canadian, but I think he must have been in a prior life. It's just a hunch I have.

Despite problems that critics and fans of the series have complained about, what's not to love about the concept of being a rogue secret agent that the government is trying to take out by using all of their secret  programs and resources?

With all the flashbacks, I was hoping there would have been a final cameo appearance by Matt Damon at the end of the movie, but there was not.

I give the Bourne Legacy 7.2 stars, but I'm a little worried that they will soon run out of suffix words for any future sequels.

Don't Be That Guy

I went to a movie this week and just as the previews were starting, a guy came in and sat right next to me. It looked like he had purchased one of everything from the concessions stand. He unpacked his stash and proceeded to eat his food. About half an hour into the movie he was still unwrapping stuff and crunching up wrappers and shaking his boxed candy each time he'd eat one.

I was shocked at how noisy this guy was while he was eating his snacks. If it's going to take you five minutes to open the cellophane wrapper of your candy, then do it during the noisy parts of the movie and not during the quiet dialogue scenes.

Speaking of movie pet peeves. I think I'm going to scream if I have to sit through that stupid Samsung Galaxy 3S commercial where the nerdy guy ties up the projectionist and then speaks to the audience for what feels like 15 minutes.

Sorry about the venting. I'm actually working on a movie review but just wanted to get this out of my system first.

Transformers "Dark of the Moon"

After seeing the second Transformers movie I decided I was done with Transformers, but I recently gave The Dark of the Moon a chance since it was streaming free on Netflix. The third installment was not as crude, dirty, or stupid as the second movie, but it still sucked.

I can take only so much pointless effects set to dramatic music. I like cool special effects and this movie had lots of them, so many in fact that I felt it was over done. The whole movie is pretty much explosions, robots transforming into vehicles, fighting, robot sounds, and destruction. I usually like this kind of stuff, but it went on way too long. It was just ridiculous and made me feel old.

Every time one of the Autobots and Decepticons spoke it almost made me laugh since that they took themselves so seriously. To quote Optimus Prime "In any war, there are calms between the storms. There will be days when we lose faith, days when our allies turn against us. But the day will never come, that we forsake this planet and its people."

I think Shia Lebeouf can be a good actor, but I don't think this franchise has helped his acting career. I didn't care for Shia's girlfriend in this movie. She came across as an unrealistic, fragile, porcelain doll. I later found out she is a Victorias Secret model who landed the role. She made Megan Fox look like a great actress. The laws of physics were completely ignored for this movie, but what do you expect from a movie based on cartoons and toys.

I can't blame Michael Bay for continuing to make these movies since people still go see them and they make him money. If he offered me to be in another Transformers movie, I'd gladly accept. That doesn't keep me from giving Transformers "Dark of the Moon" also know as "Transformers 3" by people like myself who refuse to give too much respect to the move just 6.0 stars.

Chitty Chitty Bond Bond ?

"Van Dyke...Dick Van Dyke"

Some people don't realize the many similarities between Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the James Bond franchise. The movie pretty much follows the classic Bond formula and here are some reasons why.

This kids movie was produced by Albert Brocolli

The novel was written by Ian Flemming. I'm not making this up.

It features Gert Frobe (Goldfinger) who plays Baron Bomburst, Dewmond Llewelyn (Q) as Coggins, and Anna Quayle (Bond Girl from Casino Royale) who plays Baroness Bomburst.

If features the cool cars  with gadgets that 007 fans are used to seeing.

The female lead is named 'Truly Scrumptious". That's a bond girl name if I've ever heard one.

I'm pretty sure that the kidnapper in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is scarier than any bond villain I've seen.

I have been waiting a long time for the next Bond installment and I'm glad it's quickly approaching. In anticipation of Skyfall, here is the new trailer.